From the book

Introduction

I grew up in a home where we didn’t eat many desserts. So, the instant I discovered an ounce of freedom, it led me to a supermarket, where I would stare at all the cakes and always arrive home with bags full of everything except the items I'd been sent to buy. One memorable trip, I discovered an ice cream cake. It was so delicious I went back for another one the next day, only to find it had been discontinued! So this recipe is for all the poor discontinued cakes that could have been.

Serves 10

Easy

Ingredients

250g

unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing

250g

caster sugar

5

medium eggs

250g

self-raising flour, sifted

1 tsp

baking powder

For the ice cream:

300ml

double cream

4 tbsp

icing sugar

4 tbsp

golden syrup

14g

freeze-dried raspberries

100g

cake scraps, crumbled (see instructions)

150g

fresh raspberries

Essential kit

You will need: a 20cm round loose-bottomed cake tin.

Instructions

Prep time: 30 mins plus freezing. Cook time: 50 mins.

Start by making the cake. Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan/ gas mark 4. Grease the base and sides of a 20cm round loose-bottomed cake tin and line it with baking paper.

Put the butter and sugar into a mixing bowl and beat until very light and fluffy. Crack in one egg at a time, making sure to beat well after each. Add the flour and baking powder and mix until you have a smooth batter.

Pour the mixture into the prepared tin, level off the surface and bake for 50 minutes on the middle shelf of the oven.

You will know the cake is ready when you insert a skewer and it comes out clean. Leave the cake to cool in the tin for at least 15 minutes, then remove and leave to cool further on a wire rack.

Once the cake has completely cooled, use a large serrated knife to level off the top if it has formed a dome. Pop any scraps of cake into a bowl.

Use a smaller knife to hollow out the inside of the cake. From the outside edge, come in about 2cm and cut vertically all the way round, creating an inner ring in the cake, but being very careful not to go all the way down.

Cut wedges in this inner circle as you would any cake, again making sure not to cut all the way to the bottom, then hollow out using a spoon. Put all the scraps into the bowl. You will only need 100g of scraps for the ice cream, so the rest of it can be a well-deserved snack.

Make the ice cream by putting the cream, icing sugar and golden syrup into a bowl and whipping to soft peaks. Add the dried raspberries and 100g of the cake scraps. Mix well. Put the mixture into the hollowed-out cake and level off the surface. Pop the cake on to a freezer tray and cover the top with the fresh fruit.

Freeze for a minimum of 2 hours. If freezing overnight, you may need to take the cake out of the freezer 15 minutes before serving so that it’s soft enough to cut.